" Try this little test to see if you write with weak verbs. Find one page of your writing, then go through it, highlighting am, is, was, were, be, seem, feel, become. Those are state of being verbs and are considered weak verbs. If you have more than three per page, it???s time to scratch most of them out and beef up your verbs. Example: He was tired. Change to: His eyelids drooped. Or: She is old. Change to: The arthritis made it hard to grip the pencil. See how your writing becomes stronger and more visual when you change out weak verbs? Usually when you write with be-verbs like this, you are telling. Eliminating them helps you to SHOW instead."

" Try this little test to see if you write with weak verbs. Find one page of your writing, then go through it, highlighting am, is, was, were, be, seem, feel, become. Those are state of being verbs and are considered weak verbs. If you have more than three per page, it’s time to scratch most of them out and beef up your verbs. Example: He was tired. Change to: His eyelids drooped. Or: She is old. Change to: The arthritis made it hard to grip the pencil. See how your writing becomes stronger and more visual when you change out weak verbs? Usually when you write with be-verbs like this, you are telling. Eliminating them helps you to SHOW instead."